Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/281

Rh them, which worked according to their faith and faithfulness. Eight years had been spent in taking a journey which, had they been as faithful as they should have been, would only have occupied a few weeks or months.

They pitched their tents by the sea shore, and after many days, the voice of the Lord came unto Nephi, saying, “Arise, and get thee into the mountain.' ' As ever, Nephi obeyed the heavenly word. He went up into the mountain, and there cried unto the Lord. Then the Lord spoke unto him and commanded him to build a ship, after a manner and pattern that He would show him, that the people might be carried across the great waters that lay before them.

Here a difficulty presented itself to the mind of Nephi. He had no tools, and how was it possible to build a ship without the proper instruments. So he laid the matter before the Lord, who, in answer to his prayers, told him where he could find ore with which he might make the tools he needed.

Nephi at once proceeded to carry out the commands of the Lord. With the skins of beasts he made a bellows to blow the fire, but fire as yet he had none, as the Lord had not permitted a fire to be lighted in the wilderness. So he smote two stones together, and their first fire was lighted since the company left the borders of the Red Sea. When his forge was made and his fire was lit, Nephi began to melt the ore that he had obtained to make the tools that he needed.

When his brothers saw that Nephi was about to build a ship, they began to ridicule him. They would give him no help, for they did not believe he was instructed of the Lord. Nephi became very sorrowful because of the hardness of their hearts. When they saw this they were glad, and tauntingly told him they knew that he was lacking in judgment and could not accomplish so great a